rm. 

MI$C. 


(Proposed  New  Laws) 

FOR 

Regulating  Immigration 

AND  FOR 

Raising  the  Standards 
for  Naturalization 


JANUARY  20,  1920 


NATIONAL  COMMITTEE 

for 

CONSTRUCTIVE  IMMIGRATION  LEGISLATION 

tOS  East  22d  Street,  New  York  Citf 


NATIONAL  COMMITTEE 

FOR 

Constructive  Immigration  Legislation 


A  PROGRAM  FOR  THE  REGULATION  OF 
IMMIGRATION  AND  THE  AMERICAN- 
I2ATI0N  OF  IMMIGRANTS 


Among  the  most  pressing  questions  before  the  United  States 
is  that  of  immigration. 

The  urgent  need  for  some  new  legislation  by  Congress  deal¬ 
ing  with  immigration  is  widely  recognized  throughout  the 
United  States.  But  profound  divergence  of  opinion  prevails  as 
to  what  is  needed.  Confusion  of  counsel  and  conflict  as  to 
ideals  and  policies  characterizes  the  present  situation. 

The  first  step,  therefore,  in  finding  a  rational  and  satisfactory 
immigration  policy  is  the  clear  formulation  of  fundamental  prin¬ 
ciples. 

The  National  Committee  proposes  the  following  as  the  guid¬ 
ing  considerations  in  securing  a  comprehensive,  constructive 
and  concrete  program  of  legislation. 


General  Principles 

1.  All  legislation  dealing  with  immigration  and  with  resi¬ 
dent  aliens  should  be  based  on  justice  and  goodwill  as  well  as 
on  economic  and  political  considerations. 

2.  The  United  States  should  so  regulate,  and  where  neces¬ 
sary,  restrict  immigration  as  to  provide  that  only  so  many 
immigrants  of  each  race  or  people  may  be  admitted  as  can  be 
wholesomely  Americanized. 

3.  The  number  of  those  individuals  of  each  race  or  people 
already  in  the  United  States  who  have  become  Americanized 
affords  the  best  practicable  basis  of  the  measure  for  the  further 
immigration  of  that  people. 

4.  American  standards  of  living  should  be  protected  from 
the  dangerous  economic  competition  of  immigrants,  whether 
from  Europe  or  from  Asia. 

5.  No  larger  amount  of  total  immigration  should  be  ad¬ 
mitted  than  we  can  steadily  employ. 


2 


6.  Such  provisions  should  be  made  for  the  care,  education 
and  distribution  of  aliens  who  come  to  live  permanently  among 
us  as  will  promote  their  rapid  and  genuine  transformation  into 
American  citizens  and  thus  maintain  intact  our  democratic  in¬ 
stitutions  and  national  unity. 

7.  The  standards  of  naturalization  should  be  raised  so  as  to 
include  among  other  requirements  at  least  the  ability  to  read 
an  ordinary  American  newspaper,  some  real  knowledge  of  the 
history  of  the  United  States  and  an  intelligent  acceptance  of 
the  practices  and  ideals  of  our  democracy. 

8.  Under  strict  provisions  and  rigid  limitations  as  to  num¬ 
bers  and  qualifications  of  permissible  immigration,  the  right 
to  acquire  citizenship  should  be  given  to  all  who  actually  qualify, 
regardless  of  race. 

Upon  the  basis  of  these  General  Principles  the  National  Com¬ 
mittee  has  prepared  a  tentative  draft  of  a  bill  presented  on  pages 
6,  7.  8  and  9  of  this  pamphlet. 


Concrete  Details 

1.  The  law'  to  apply  only  to  Continental  United  States.  The 
territory  of  Hawaii  and  perhaps  also  Alaska  and  Porto  Rico 
should  receive  special  treatment. 

2.  The  permissible  annual  immigration  from  any  given  peo¬ 
ple  to  be  a  certain  per  cent  (say  between  3  and  10)  of  a  basal 
figure  composed  of  two  factors: 

(a)  The  number  of  American-born  children  of  that  people 
residing  in  Continental  United  States  as  recorded  in  the  United 
States  census  of  1920,  plus 

(b)  The  number  of  naturalized  citizens  of  that  people  resid¬ 
ing  in  Continental  United  States  as  recorded  in  the  last  available 
census. 

3.  This  method  of  dealing  with  immigration  to  apply  to  all 
peoples  without  discrimination,  including  Chinese  and  Japanese. 

4.  An  Immigration  Commission  to  be  established  with  im¬ 
portant  powers  for*  the  administration  of  this  law. 


Advantages  of  the  Proposed  Law 

1.  The  proposed  law  will  admit  as  immigrants  from  each 
people  only  so  many  as  we  can  hope  to  Americanize — because 
it  will  allow  an  annual  immigration  of  new-comers  only  in  pro¬ 
portion  to  those  of  that  people  who  have  already  become  Ameri¬ 
can  citizens. 


3 


2.  It  will  provide  a  competent  Commission  to  deal  con¬ 
tinuously  with  the  ever-changing  problems  of  immigration  as 
they  arise,  with  power  to  adjust  the  percentage  rate  from  year 
to  year  according  to  our  economic  and  industrial  needs  and  to 
deal  with  special  exigencies  of  labor  and  of  human  needs,  and 
to  investigate  thoroughly  and  comprehensively  the  basic  prob¬ 
lem  of  the  distribution  of  immigration. 

3.  It  will  protect  American  labor  from  dangers  of  unregu¬ 
lated  immigration,  help  maintain  American  economic,  social  and 
hygienic  labor  standards  and  tend  thus  to  remove  the  present 
widespread  industrial  and  social  discontent. 

4.  It  will  tend  to  stabilize  business  by  preventing  extreme 
fluctuations  of  available  labor  which  result  in  over-production 
and  then  in  stagnation  of  business  with  unemployment  of  labor, 
causing  incalculable  suffering,  anxiety  and  loss,  and  increasingly 
ominous  unrest. 

5.  It  will  raise  the  standards  of  naturalization,  promote  more 
intelligent  practice  of  citizenship  and  secure  a  higher  efficiency 
for  our  democracy. 

6.  It  will  prevent  a  sudden  large  influx  from  any  new  people 
having  few,  if  any,  representatives  already  among  us,  and  re¬ 
strain  immigration  from  peoples  that  do  not  readily  assimilate 
with  our  people ;  yet  at  the  same  time  it  will  increasingly  open 
the  doors  to  those  who  do  assimilate. 

7.  It  will  give  privileges  of  citizenship  to  every  individual 
who  will  properly  qualify  for  the  same.  This  provision  will  re¬ 
move  in  a  fundamental  way  the  cause  of  Japanese  irritation  and 
indignation.  We  give  citizenship  to  many  non-Caucasians,  such 
as  Tartars,  Finns  and  Hungarians;  Turks,  Syrians,  Persians 
and  Hindu;  Mexicans  and  South  Americans;  Zulus,  Hottentots, 
Kaffirs  and  men  from  any  tribe  in  Africa ;  but  we  deny  it  to 
Japanese  and  Chinese.  This  is  why  both  Japanese  and  Chinese 
regard  our  naturalization  laws  as  ignominious  and  humiliating. 

The  proposed  bill  will  remove  from  our  laws  this  humilia¬ 
tion,  which  is  increasingly  resented  not  only  by  Asiatics  in  this 
land  but  also  by  their  peoples  in  Asia.  Yet  in  doing  away  with 
our  differential  treatment  of  Asiatics  no  danger  will  be  incurred 
of  large  immigration  from  Asia.  The  permissible  immigration 
of  Chinese  and  Japanese  would  be  for  many  years  smaller  than 
that  which  now  comes  yearly. 

8.  It  will  harmonize  America's  policy  with  her  treaty  obliga¬ 
tions  to  China,  which  obligations  are  violated  by  our  present 
special  Chinese  Legislation. 

(a)  The  treaty  of  1880  says,  “The  Government  of  the  United 
States  may  regulate,  limit  or  suspend  the  coming  or  residence  of 
Chinese  laborers,  but  may  not  absolutely  prohibit  it.”  In  1904 


4 


Congress,  nevertheless,  enacted  a  law  that  “all  laws  regulating, 
suspending  or  prohibiting  the  coming  of  Chinese  persons  are 
hereby  re-enacted,  extended  and  continued  without  modifica¬ 
tion,  limitation  or  condition.” 

/b)  The  treaty  furthermore  says,  that  “Chinese  in  the  United 
States  .  .  .  shall  be  accorded  all  the  rights,  privileges, 

immunities  and  exemptions  which  are  accorded  to  citizens  and 
subjects  of  the  most  favored  nation.”  Beginning,  however,  in 
1882,  Congress  has  passed  a  dozen  laws  dealing  differentially 
with  the  Chinese,  all  in  marked  conflict  with  this  requirement 
of  the  treaty.  In  1888  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States 
declared  that  the  Scott  Act  of  that  year  was  “in  contravention 
of  the  treaty  of  1868  and  of  the  supplemental  treaty  of  1880. 
But  it  is  not  on  that  account  invalid.  .  .  .  This  court  is 

not  a  censor  of  the  morals  of  the  other  departments  of  the 
government.”  That  law,  however,  is  still  in  force,  as  well  as  all 
the  others  establishing  differential  treatment. 

By  voluntarily  setting  right  our  relations  with  Chinese  and 
Japanese  we  will  secure  among  them  those  feelings  of  goodwill 
for  and  confidence  in  us  that  are  essential  not  only  to  successful 
commercial  relations  but  also  to  permanent  international  peace. 
If  we  wish  in  the  decades  ahead  to  forestall  the  much  discussed 
and  widely  expected  conflict  of  the  white  and  yellow  races  for 
the  domination  of  the  world,  we  must  begin  now  to  put  into 
practice  the  universal  and  inescapable  principles  of  justice,  fair- 
dealing  and  brotherhood.  In  doing  this  we,  of  course,  must  not 
forget  the  right  of  our  own  people  to  adequate  protection  from 
the  dangers  of  excessive  immigration  from  any  land  or  people. 

The  time  has  surely  come  to  repeal  our  treaty-breaking  laws 
and  to  apply  the  golden  rule  and  the  plain  principles  of  interna¬ 
tional  honor  to  our  dealings  with  the  Chinese. 

Every  American  citizen  v/ho  approves  these  principles  and 
will  aid  in  securing  the  enactment  of  this  bill  is  invited  to  become 
a  member  of  the  National  Committee  for  Constructive  Immigra¬ 
tion  Legislation. 

SIDNEY  L.  GULICK,  Secretary, 

105  East  22nd  Street,  New  York  City. 

REVISED  DRAFT 

A  Bill  to  Regulate  Immigration,  to  Promote  Assimilation, 
and  to  Modify  the  Requirements  for  the  Acquisition  of  Citizen¬ 
ship  by  Naturalization. 

(The  foUowing  proposed  bill  when  introduced  into  Congress  will 
take  the  form  of  amendments  to  various  existing  laws:  the  immigration 
act  of  February  5,  1917;  the  naturalization  laws  of  May  15,  1918;  and 
eight  Chinese  exclusion  laws.  The  immigration  act  alone  fills  twenty- 
eight  pages.  The  immigration  act  of  February  5,  1917,  would  remain  in 


substance  unchanged,  except  as  indicated  in  Section  8.  All  of  its  safe¬ 
guards,  including  the  literacy  test  would  be  incorporated  in  the  new  law. 
The  naturalization  laws  would  be  changed  as  indicated  in  Section  6 
below.) 

Be  it  enacted  by  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives 
of  the  United  States  of  America  in  Congress  assembled, 

Sec.  1.  (a)  That  an  Immigration  Commission  be  and  hereby  is 

created,  consisting  of  the  Secretary  of  Labor,  the  Secretary  of  Com¬ 
merce,  the  Secretary  of  the  Interior,  the  Secretary  of  Agriculture, 
and  the  Commissioner  (or  Secretary)  of  education,  each  of  whom 
may  designate  an  assistant  secretary  to  represent  him  (at  a  salary 

not  to  exceed  $ - ),  the  Chairman  of  the  House  Committee 

on  Immigration,  the  Chairman  of  the  Senate  Committee  on  Im¬ 
migration,  a  nominee  of  the  American  Federation  of  Labor,  a 
nominee  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  of  the  United  States  and  a 
tenth  person,  the  last  three  to  be  appointed  by  the  President  of 
the  United  States,  at  a  salary  of  $— . 

(b)  That  this  Immigration  Commission  shall  make  such 
distribution  of  duties  and  functions  provided  for  in  this  act  be¬ 
tween  the  Departments  and  Bureaus  represented  in  the  Com¬ 
mission  as  shall  in  its  judgment  be  expedient  for  the  proper 
administration  of  this  act. 

(c)  That  as  soon  as  the  figures  of  the  Census  of  1920  are 
available,  the  Immigration  Commission  shall  prepare  a  schedule 
of  the  permissible  immigration  from  each  people,  according  to 
the  provisions  of  section  2  (d)  of  this  Act;  and  shall  make 
public  announcement  of  this  schedule  within  sixty  days. 

(d)  That  within  a  period  of  not  less  than  ninety  days  nor 
more  than  one  hundred  and  fifty  days  from  the  public  announce¬ 
ment  of  the  schedule,  at  the  discretion  of  the  Immigration  Com¬ 
mission,  it  shall  be  put  into  operation. 

Sec.  2.  That  aliens  entering  the  United  States  shall  be  clas¬ 
sified  either  as  Transients  or  Immigrants. 

(a)  Aliens  entering  the  United  States  as  Transients  shall 
include  such  persons  as  the  following: 

Accredited  officials  of  foreign  governments,  members  of  their 
families,  their  servants  and  employees,  travelers  for  health, 
pleasure  or  curiosity,  business  or  professional  men,  students  pro¬ 
vided  with  their  own  fund?  or  guaranteed  support  by  their  own 
governments  or  by  institutions  or  friends  in  the  United  States, 
ministers  or  religous  teachers,  missionaries,  teachers,  authors, 
professional  artists,  their  legal  wives  or  their  children  under  six¬ 
teen  years  of  age,  who  accompany  them,  singers  or  actors,  and 
aliens  employed  strictly  as  personal  or  domestic  servants  accom¬ 
panying  and  departing  with  their  employers. 


6 


(b)  Aliens  entering  the  United  States  as  Transients,  ex¬ 
cepting  accredited  representatives  and  officials  of  foreign  gov¬ 
ernments,  shall  present  proper  passports  stating  among  other 
things  the  purpose  of  the  visit  and  the  expected  length  of  that 
visit,  not  to  exceed  three  years.  The  passports  of  students  may 
specify  six  years  as  the  period.  Aliens  possessing  such  passports 
who  desire  to  extend  the  period  of  residence  in  the  United  States 
may  secure  permission  for  such  extension  from  the  Commis¬ 
sioner  General  of  Immigration,  the  regulations  providing  for 
such  extension  having  been  authorized  by  the  Immigration  Com¬ 
mission. 

(c)  Aliens  entering  the  United  States  as  Immigrants  shall 
include  all  laborers  and  their  families,  and  all  persons  who  enter 
for  an  indeterminate  and  possibly  for  permanent  residence  in 
the  United  States.  Immigrants  shall  not  be  required  to  present 
passports. 

(d)  The  number  of  Immigrants  who  may  be  admitted  to  the 
United  States  in  a  single  year  shall  be  determined  by  the  Im¬ 
migration  Commission  according  to  the  following  provisions: — 

The  number  of  alien  persons  belonging  to  any  given  race  or 
mother-tongue  group  who  may  be  admitted  annually  to  Con¬ 
tinental  United  States  (excluding  Alasko,  Porto  Rico,  the  Philippine 
Islands,  and  the  Territory  of  Hawaii)  shall  not  be  less  than  three 
per  cent  nor  more  than  ten  per  cent  of  a  basic  figure  to  be  com¬ 
posed  of.* 

A.  The  number  of  American-born  children  of  that  people  or 
mother-tongue  group  residing  in  Continental  United 
States  as  recorded  in  the  United  States  census  of  1920, 
plus, 

B.  The  number  of  naturalized  aliens  of  that  people  or  mother- 
tongue  group  residing  in  Continental  United  States  as 
recorded  in  the  last  available  census. 

The  permissible  immigration  for  any  people  for  the  fraction 
of  the  year  between  the  first  date  of  the  operation  of  this  Act 
and  the  end  of  the  fiscal  year  (June  30)  shall  be  one-quarter, 
one-half  or  three-quarters  of  the  total  permissible  immigration 
of  that  people  according  to  the  date  at  which  this  Act  goes 
into  effect. 

If  the  basic  figure  for  any  people  or  mother-tongue  group 
shall  be  found  to  be  less  than  twenty  thousand,  the  number 
admissible  each  year  of  that  people  or  mother-tongue  group  shall 
be  one  thousand  at  the  maximum)  rate  and  five  hundred  at  the 
minimum  rate. 


♦If  a  higher  maximum  and  minimum  rate  were  desired,  this  phrase 
could  be  made  to  read  “not  less  than  five  nor  more  than  fifteen  per 
cent.” 


The  term  “people  or  mother-tongue  group”  shall  be  defined 
and  interpreted  by  the  Immigration  Commission.  The  Immi¬ 
gration  Commission  shall  have  power  for  the  purpose  of  enforc¬ 
ing  this  statute,  to  classify  as  a  single  people,  all  the  citizens 
of  a  given  nation  or  all  persons  living  within  a  given  geographical 
area  or  any  race  or  mother-tongue  group.*  Where  such  a 
classification  is  applied  to  a  group  which  contains  among  its 
members  persons  speaking  different  mother-tongues,  the  Com¬ 
mission  shall  deduct  from  the  total  permissible  immigration  of 
those  classified  by  a  given  mother-tongue  classification,  the  num¬ 
ber  speaking  that  mother  tongue  which  has  been  made  eligible 
for  admission  by  virtue  of  citizenship  in  a  nation  or  residence 
in  a  specified  geographical  area ;  and  the  number  of  arriving  im¬ 
migrants  of  a  given  mother-tongue,  citizens  of  such  nation  or 
native  to  such  a  geographical  area,  shall  not  be  taken  into  ac¬ 
count  in  determining  whether  the  admissible  immigration  from 
that  mother-tongue  group  has  been  admitted  in  the  given  year.f 

(e)  That  women  coming  to  join  their  husbands,  children 
under  sixteen  years  of  age  accompanying  or  coming  to  join  a 
parent,  and  parents  or  grandparents  accompanying  or  coming  to 
join  a  child  or  grandchild,  who  arrive  after  the  permissible 
number  of  immigrants  from  their  race  or  people  has  been  ad¬ 
mitted,  shall  be  admitted,  but  the  number  of  such  admissions 
shall  be  the  first  charge  against  the  permissible  immigration  of 
the  following  year. 

(f)  That  in  addition  to  those  aliens  admitted  as  Transients 
or  as  Immigrants  the  following  classes  of  aliens  shall  also  be 
admitted  provided  they  are  otherwise  qualified  for  admission. 

Citizens  of  Canada. 

Aliens  who  have  taken  out  their  first  papers  and  have  passed 
certain  tests  in  the  English  language  prescribed  by  and  carried 
out  under  the  supervision  of  the  Immigration  Commission. 

Aliens  in  continuous  transit  through  the  United  States,  and 


*Czecho-Siovakia,  Poland,  etc.,  thus  meeting  the  new  conditions 
developing  in  Central  Europe. 

tThis  wording,  which  is  rather  puzzling  yet  technically  necessary, 
is  aimed  to  insure  (a)  that  a  naturalized  immigrant  would  not  be  counted 
twice,  in  arriving  at  the  basic  figures  of  permissible  immigration,  and 
(b)  that  an  arriving  immigrant  would  be  charged  only  against  the  per¬ 
missible  immigration  from  his  own  group.  For  example,  if  Switzerland 
were  construed  as  being  a  “people,”  (a)  the  number  of  German-speaking 
naturalized  Swiss  immigrants  in  the  United  States  would  be  deducted 
from  the  total  of  naturalized  immigrants  of  the  German  mother-tongue 
group,  and  would  be  credited  to  the  Swiss  group;  and  (b)  the  German¬ 
speaking  Swiss  immigrants  entering  the  United  States  in  a  given  year 
would  be  counted  against  the  permissible  Swiss  immigration  of  that 
year,  not  against  the  immigration  from  the  German  mother-tongue 
group. 


a 


aliens  who  have  been  lawfully  admitted  to  the  United  States 
and  who  later  shall  go  in  transit  from  one  part  of  the  United 
States  to  another  through  foreign  contiguous  territory. 

Aliens  who  shall  prove  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  proper  im« 
migration  officers  or  to  the  Commissioner  General  of  Immigra¬ 
tion  that  they  are  seeking  admission  to  the  United  States  to 
avoid  religious  persecution  in  the  country  of  their  last  permanent 
residence. 

Sec.  3.  (a)  That  every  adult  alien  entering  the  United 

States,  excepting  accredited  officials  of  foreign  governments, 
shall  be  required  to  file  with  the  immigration  officials  at  the  port 
of  entry  a  sworn  statement  printed  both  in  English  and  in  the 
language  of  the  alien,  pledging  obedience  to  the  laws  of  the 
United  States,  and  faithful  fulfilment  of  the  requirements  for 
annual  registration,  with  the  understanding  that  disobedience 
may  be  punished  by  imprisonment  for  a  period  not  exceeding 
six  months,  or  by  deportation,  or  by  imprisonment  and  deporta¬ 
tion. 

(b)  That  every  adult  alien,  except  Transients,  upon  admit¬ 
tance  to  the  United  States  shall  declare  the  intention  of  learning 
the  English  language  and  of  becoming  acquainted  with  the 
methods  of  this  government  and  with  the  ideals  and  institutions 
of  this  country.  A  duplicate  of  these  pledges  shall  be  given  to 
the  declarant. 

(c)  That  alien  students  who  are  admitted  as  Transients  shall 
not  be  regarded  as  having  lost  that  status  by  reason  of  having 
secured  temporarily  some  gainful  occupation,  on  condition  that 
they  maintain  regular  attendance  in  a  High  School,  College  or 
University,  the  nature  of  the  schools  to  be  specifically  defined 
by  the  Immigration  Commission. 

Sec.  4.  That  the  Commissioner  General  of  Immigration  shall 
issue  a  monthly  statement  showing  the  maximum  number  of 
aliens  of  each  people  or  mother-tongue  group  who  may  be 
admitted  to  the  United  States  during  the  current  fiscal  year, 
together  with  the  number  already  admitted,  but  when  seventy- 
fivt'  per  cent  of  such  maximum  number  of  aliens  of  any  people 
or  molher-tongue  group  has  been  admitted,  like  statements  rela¬ 
tive  to  such  nationality  shall  be  issued  weekly  thereafter.  He 
shall  send  such  reports  promptly  to  the  American  Consul  in  all 
ports  from  which  aliens  commonly  sail  for  the  United  States. 
When  the  permissible  number  of  aliens  of  any  people  or  mother- 
tongue  group  shall  have  been  admitted,  all  other  aliens  of  such 
people  or  mother-tongue  group  who  may  apply  for  admission 
during  the  same  fiscal  year  shall  be  excluded,  except  that  other¬ 
wise  admissible  aliens  as  provided  in  Sec.  3  (e)  and  (f)  shall 
be  admitted. 


9 


Sec.  5.  (a)  That  the  Immigration  Commission  shall  each 

year  determine  the  percentage  rate  for  the  following  fiscal 
year  as  provided  in  Sec.  2  (d).  In  determining  that  rate 
it  shall  have  regard  to  the  labor  conditions  in  the  United  States 
and  to  the  maintenance  of  the  American  standards  of  living  and 
wages;  and  shall  make  such  regulations  as  shall  prevent  con¬ 
gestion  of  immigration  at  any  period  of  the  year,  promote  the 
convenience  of  transportation  companies,  and  avoid  hardships 
to  the  immigrants. 

(b)  That  the  Commission  shall  be  authorized  to  increase  the 
percentage  rate  at  any  time  without  notice,  but  not  less  than 
three  months  notice  must  be  given  of  a  proposed  decrease  of 
the  rate. 

(c)  That  skilled  labor,  if  otherwise  admissible,  may  be 
imported  if  labor  of  like  kind  unemployed  cannot  be  found  in 
this  country.  The  question  of  the  necessity  of  importing  such 
skilled  labor  in  any  particular  instance  shall  be  determined  by 
the  Immigration  Commission  upon  the  application  of  any  person 
interested,  such  application  to  be  made  before  such  importation, 
and  such  determination  by  the  Immigration  Commission  to  be 
reached  after  a  full  hearing  and  an  investigation  into  the  facts 
of  the  case.  Aliens  admitted  under  this  rule  shall  be  reckoned 
as  among  those  admitted  on  the  percentage  plan ;  if  they  arrive 
after  the  permissible  number  from  their  countries  have  been  ad¬ 
mitted,  they  shall  nevertheless  be  admitted,  but  such  admissions 
shall  be  charged  against  the  permissible  immigration  of  the  fol¬ 
lowing  year. 

(d)  That  the  Immigration  Commission  shall  as  soon  as  prac¬ 
ticable  (1)  draft  special  laws  for  the  regulation  of  immigration 
to  Alaska,  Porto  Rico,  the  Territory  of  Hawaii  and  the  Philip¬ 
pine  Islands,  and  submit  the  same  to  Congress  for  enactment, 
and  (2)  institute  a  comprehensive  inquiry  into  policies  and 
methods  of  the  distribution  of  immigration,  shall  publish  the  re¬ 
sults  of  the  investigation  in  full,  not  later  than  two  years  from 
the  beginning  of  the  inquiry;  and  shall  carry  on  all  further  work 
necessary  to  bring  the  approved  results  of  the  investigation  ef¬ 
fectively  before  the  public. 

(e)  That  the  Immigration  Commission  shall  be  the  final 
judge  as  to  fact  and  as  to  the  interpretation  of  this  Act  in  all 
cases  of  doubt  about  individual  immigrants. 

Sec.  6.  (a)  That  the  Act  of  June  29,  1906,  Section  4,  Para¬ 

graph  4,  be  amended  by  the  addition  of  the  following  words 
after  the  words  “happiness  of  the  same”  on  the  eighth  line*: 


*Section  4  of  the  Naturalization  Act  of  June  29,  1906,  consists  of 
six  long  paragraphs  giving  a  detailed  procedure  for  naturalization  and 
requiring  certificates  of  character  and  an  expressed  loyalty  to  the  Gov¬ 
ernment  and  the  Constitution  on  the  part  of  applicants.  The  new  para¬ 
graphs  here  proposed  are  additions  to  the  Naturalization  Act,  raising 
the  standards  and  extending  the  scope  in  the  ways  indicated. 


10 


“and  also  that  he  has  passed  certain  tests  prescribed  by  and 
carried  out  under  the  supervision  of  the  Immigration  Commis¬ 
sion  in  (1)  reading  and  speaking  the  English  language,  (2)  in  the 
principles  of  personal  and  public  hygiene,  (3)  in  the  history  of 
the  American  people,  (4)  in  the  methods  and  ideals  of  the  Gov¬ 
ernment  of  the  United  States,  and  (5)  in  the  rights  and  duties 
of  citizens.” 

(b)  That  the  Act  of  Feb.,  1875,  amending  the  Act  of  July 
14,  1870,  be  amended  by  striking  out  the  words,  “The  provisions 
of  this  title  apply  to  aliens  being  free  white  persons  and  to 
aliens  of  African  nativity  and  to  persons  of  African  descent,” 
and  by  substituting  therefore  the  following  words:  “The  privi¬ 
lege  of  citizenship  by  naturalization  is  open  to  every  alien  who 
fulfills  all  the  intellectual  and  moral  requirements  of  the  law 
specified  in  paragraph  (a)  above,  and  also  the  requirements, 
technical  and  moral,  specified  in  the  Act  of  June  26,  1906,  and 
its  later  amendments.” 

Sec.  7.  That  all  acts  and  parts  of  acts  relating  to  the  exclu¬ 
sion  of  Chinese  from  and  of  special  treatment  of  Chinese  in  the 
United  States,  shall  be  and  the  same  are  hereby  repealed ; 
namely,  the  acts  of 

July  5,  1884,  September  13,  1888,  May  5,  1892, 
November  3,  1893,  July  7,  1898,  April  30,  1900, 

June  6,  1900,  March  3,  1901,  April  29,  1902, 
February  20,  1907,  August  24,  1912,  June  13,  1913, 

and  all  amendments  to  the  same. 

Sec.  8.  That  the  clause  of  Section  3  of  the  Act  of  February 
5,  1917,  establishing  specified  geographical  zones  the  natives 
from  which  are  excluded,  is  hereby  repealed. 

Also  the  clause  of  Section  3  of  the  Act  of  February  5,  1917, 
which  provides  that  “no  alien  now  in  any  way  excluded  from 
or  prevented  from  entering  the  United  States  shall  be  admitted 
to  the  United  States”  is  hereby  repealed. 

Sec.  9.  That  this  act  shall  be  in  full  force  and  effect  on  and 
from  the . day  of. . . . . . of  the  year  1920,  A.  D. 


U 


STATISTICS  AND  DIAGRAMS 


The  following  statistical  table  illustrates  what  the  practical 
results  would  be  if  the  percentage  proposal  of  this  pamphlet 
had  gone  into  operation,  July  1,  1911. 

The  figures  show  that  even  at  2  per  cent  there  would  have 
been  no  restriction  on  the  immigration  from  Northwest  Europe. 
At  10  per  cent  the  permissible  immigration  from  South,  Central, 
East  and  North  Europe  for  1919  would  have  been  approximately 
350,000.  This  would  have  been  a  considerable  reduction  as  Com¬ 
pared  to  the  immigration  from  these  countries  in  the  years  pre¬ 
ceding  the  war.  The  permitted  immigration  from  Japan  would 
have  been  materially  less  than  the  actual  immigration  of  recent 
years.  At  5  per  cent  the  restriction  would  have  been  quite  severe 
for  the  wdiole  world  except  Northwest  Europe.  A  more  detailed 
statement  of  the  statistics  may  be  secured  from  the  office. 


Permissible  Immigration  Under  Plan  of  National  Committee 


Countries 

Actual  Immigration 

Permissible 

1911-1920 

United  Kingdom . 

Scandinavia . 

Germany . 

1912 

1913 

1914 

Max.  10% 

Min.  3% 

82,978 

27,554 

27,788 

88,204 

32,268 

34,329 

73,417 

29,391 

35,734 

593,338 

189,648 

667,044 

178,001 

56,893 

200,113 

Total,  Northwest  Europe . 

161,299 

181,887 

164,133 

1,518,768 

455,627 

Italy . 

Austria- PI  ungary . 

Russia . 

157,134 

178,882 

162,395 

265,542 

254,825 

291,040 

283,738 

278,152 

255,660 

88,181 

121,777 

113,116 

26,454 

36,533 

33,934 

Total,  South,  Central,  Ecist  and 
North  Europe . 

559,356 

877,819 

906,395 

349,694 

105,502 

China . 

Japan . 

1,608 

6,136 

2,022 

8,281 

2,354 

8,929 

1,630 

1,000 

500 

600 

12 


